Absent Friends
by ScheduledforDeletion
Summary: When Aeron, a mysterious archer from Odin's lands, comes to Camelot to present Merlin with a gift she finds more than just a bumbling servant. Instead she finds a young man who, with secrets of his own, will help to complete her life's work and reveal secrets of hers that would kill to be kept so. A/N: No romance except that which is canon.


The gates of Camelot were blinding in the heat of the day but offered much welcome shade to those arriving waiting at the security checkpoint. This shadow however was quickly disappearing as the sun reached its peak in the sky, its rays slowly becoming unbearable after the two hour average wait due to a dispute over whether or not a dog requires to pay tax if the owner says its his brother transformed. Around ten people behind in the queue there stood a figure almost odder than those at the front. They stood alert when most around them had fallen to the ground giving respite to their aching feet. Their clothing appeared to be a mish-mash of elements none of which matched or were suitable for this hot weather being mostly blacks and grey. Slung over their left shoulder was a long brown bag covered in most part by a light grey cloth, a small wooden implement poked out from the top despite its owners best efforts to disguise it. In their right hand was a letter from an honourable man and over the front of the parchment scrawled hastily in ink was the name 'Merlin'. The messenger rocked back and forth on the balls of their feet feeling the heat emirate from the stones as each part of their foot made new contact. Finally they reached the front of the line, the soldier behind the desk had abandoned his scarlet cape and helmet in favour of catching the light breeze of the day. Without looking up from the records he made of each visitor, their experience of visiting such a great city minimised to a few strokes on the page, he asked for her name and purpose. 'My name is Aeron and i am here to deliver a letter'

The knight looked up at her his eyes squinting from looking into the sun 'You are not here for the tournament?'

'No, i was unaware that there was one on?'

Pointing with the end of his quill he rebutted 'So that there bow you're carrying is just for show then? Nice try lad, three crowns for competitors, go and report to the man in the castle grounds in the red tent' He placed a wooden token in her hand.

'Just follow the other archers and you'll find it'

She let out a sharp hiss of air from between her teeth and placed the money on the table before spinning on her heel and entering Camelot.

—

For once Merlin was able to relax at this particular tournament as Arthur was not competing along with any of his close friends or relatives. Arthur said that he found archery to be an inefficient way to do the job of a crossbow and therefore found no interest in it. Merlin suspected that this actually meant that Arthur couldn't do it well as he had used this excuse for everything else that he was bad at. Despite Arthur's obvious lack of humility Merlin was pleased for the break since it meant that no foe would be coming to kill him for something Uther had done to them since there was no way of them knowing if he would even be in Camelot. 'Merlin!', the oh so familiar shout echoed around the part of Arthur's room in which the prince must still lay in bed at this hour.

'Coming my lord!' Merlin replied in a carefully crafted tone that disguised his sarcasm but didn't make him seem like a complete kiss ass. Merlin entered the room freshly folded shirt in hand and before he could ask Arthur answered in his trademark drawling tone

'Do you know what time it is, why didn't you wake me up?'

Merlin froze as if in shock, 'But you never get up before this hour?'

Arthur flared his nostrils and widened his eyes slightly and Merlin headed himself for a imminent flying cup, plate or whatever else was on his bedside table.

No cups came, instead Arthur looked at the black space in front of him and dryly answered.

'I am entering the archery tournament and I wish to… test my bow'

'But you don't have a bow' Merlin answered equally as dry.

His response came almost as quickly as a crossbow bolt, the object thrown with deadly precision from Arthur's dominant arm.

'WELL THEN IF YOU'RE SO SMART MERLIN GO AND FIND ME ONE!' Arthur shouted, arm still outreached from the thrown the force of which had placed him on his knees.

Merlin grasped this opportunity and ran. He once again returned to the question that had occupied his thoughts from almost the first day he arrived in Camelot. Why can't the Once and Future King be less of a clot pole?

—-

Aeron reached the door that she was lead to believe led to Gaius's chamber, who in turn would lead her to Merlin. With a firm grip that caused the leather of her gloves to crumple, she knocked with two solid raps. From inside the room she heard a soft "Enter".

With this she turned the door ring anti clockwise that released the latch and stepped in to the room. The first thing to hit her was the sweet and fragrant smell of the room, a place that was furnished with instruments of medicine that were often drenched in blood.

'Hello, how may I help you?'

The question came from a man standing next to a long table in the centre of the high ceilinged room adorned with various bowls and vials with his worn fingers wrapped around each other in front of him. His soft white hair framed the obvious wisdom in his face stopping at his shoulders.

'You are Gaius' Aeron stated more than questioned.

'Yes, are you sick?' he replied.

'No, I'm Aeron…' she grinned slightly at her own joke and Guias returned it. She continued '…and i'm looking for someone called Merlin'

"Merlin?, well he's busy currently, what do you want from him?" Gaius said raising his left brown slightly.

"I want nothing from him, actually I have been sent by a friend of his as a birthday present".

Gaius's eyebrow rose so high that it pulled the other one up with it.

It didn't take her long to realised the implication of her statement, "No, no, I mean as a tutor, i've been sent to tutor him in archery" she said, her voice raising an octave and hands held in front of her as if she could catch her previous statement.

Gaius's brows slowly returned to their position "Who sent this present?" he tentatively asked.

"Lancelot".

Gaius's face softened at the name and Aeron knew she had passed whatever defence this man was putting up for Merlin.

The old man smiled and walked towards her "Lancelot, how is he, its been almost a year?".

"He is doing well, he seems healthy and happy" she said lying. In fact this wasn't a perfect lie, Lancelot had said the same lie to her but she could see the limps, the spark of joy dimming behind his eyes. They didn't see each other often, they met on the swords for hire track, something you don't speak about to someone unless they're hiring. the job pays well but it takes something deep inside you that all the gold sovereigns of Camelot can not replace. She paid that price a long time ago but suspected that Lancelot had only paid it recently still obviously hesitant to kill opponents in the ring. Aeron was drawn to his kindness and he seemed happy to oblige her. Over time they became close friends even after only a handful of meetings. She could see why Gaius would trust anyone sent by a man like Lancelot, but it was not her place to make Gaius worry unduly.

"I have a letter from him for Merlin too, so I am sure this will be more informative than I" she responded, aware of the time she took between each sentence.

Gaius gestured her over to the table and asked her to wait since Merlin should be back for lunch soon. She sat on the bench, one leg on either side and began to survey the room. She began to notice the number of items strewn around, from parchment to potions the space was crammed with objects of interest yet still seems clean and managed. She suspected that Gaius saw patients in her since there was a sickbed by the fire with instruments for sealing wounds and counteracting poison in easy to reach positions. Over her head was a set of stairs that clung to the wall almost as if they were branches growing from a tree. This lead up to a bookshelf that obviously saw many years of service and was perched on a small balcony. The only safety measure was a banister which had defiantly been snapped in two and fixed fairly recently. A fall like that for any person would have been dangerous, for Gaius it would have been fatal.

After another 20 minuets of investigating the room she felt the base of her neck, to the back of her ears start to tingle. She stood up and faced the door. "Whats the matter?" Gaius asked before a mere second later a lanky man with bright eyes and cinder black hair entered the room with a defiant huff. Upon seeing her this boy suddenly righted himself wiping all emotion from his face, as only someone who worked with people knew how to and instead wore a neutral smile.

Gaius began the introduction with a smirk before saying "Merlin, it's your lucky day, you have been sent a gift"

"A…gift?" Merlin replied, his eyebrows also raising, something that he had obviously learned from Gaius.

They simultaneously turned their heads to look at her, Merlin's blue neckerchief catching the bottom of his chin as he did so.

"i was sent by Lancelot…" she said handing him the letter "…I am returning a favour and he asked if I could teach you some skill in the bow".

Merlin barely listened so she stopped talking to let him read Lancelot's letter. She watched as his eyes danced across the page, his thumb and forefingers gently rubbing the sides of the parchment as he held it slightly closer to his face than necessary. I wasn't long before Merlin finished the letter and looked at her to simply say through a small grin "I warn you, I am terrible".

"Well, lets see first" she replied through her own grin. Whilst she knew how lucky it was to have Lancelot as a friend she could see that Merlin, little that she had seen of him, was cut from the same cloth.

—-

Merlin followed the now hoodless Aeron as she walked away from the completion grounds, a target board slung over her shoulder. He helped silently with the target, placing the stand where she directed and then following her to the wall of the castle where she left the borrowed bows and arrows balanced up against it. "So… " Merlin said looking at the curved bow Aeron handed to him "…how do you know Lancelot?"

"I know him from a tavern in Erickton, we both passed through there often and got to know each other"

Aeron had experienced this kind of questioning before, it often came from the rare escort missions she was tasked with, so many questions about who she was and where she came from. These were the questions asked by people with targets on their back, strange coming from a typical Camelot servant. She shook the feeling but she still responded quickly as to quell his suspicions also hoping that whatever Lancelot wrote didn't contradict her.

Merlin responded with yet another question "Does he seem ok to you?"

She responded with what she was told by Lancelot and what she then told Gaius.

Merlin raised an eyebrow again and responded in a drawling tone, "Funny, that sounds a lot like what Lancelot would say"

The corners of her mouth curled inwards. "Damn, this guy isn't daft" she thought. Turning to face him and drawing her breath for a response she stopped and released it in a low sigh. She saw Merlin's face brows almost knotted together and a slight redness in the corner of his eyes, his voice caught a little in his throat as he looked her in the eyes and simply said "Please."

"You know he isn't doing badly…" Aaron said sliding the bow off of her arm. "…in fact he makes a decent amount as a warrior for hire." She stopped to line herself up with the target board and placed a hand into her quiver that hung around her hips. "The stress of a job like that and the moral duplicity would get to an honourable man like Lancelot…", she loaded an arrow into the bow, "…he may be a little more tired mentally than he lets on". She drew the string back and it sat firmly in the worn line of her glove and then looked straight at Merlin "Not to brag but he saved my life,…". She released the arrow almost a hundred meters from the target and Merlin's eyes followed but hers stayed fixed on him. His eyes widened and mouth opened a little as she heard the familiar thunk of steel penetrating wood and hide and his eyes returned to her, "… he is and will be fine."

Merlin's shoulders appeared to sink a little in their sockets and his gaze lowered to the floor. She stepped towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed her fingers in towards the back of his neck. "He is lucky to have you Merlin and if I ever feel he's in trouble or needs help I will remember you" she said hoping to ease the pain she knew grew in the young man's stomach that she knew too well. "We can't be there to help them all the time".

Merlin looked up and said quite clearly after a sigh "Thank you…" suddenly he flashed a smile and life seems to flow in to every part of his being. "… so, are you going to teach me to do that" he said, pointing at the target with her arrow sunk almost halfway into the board.

"Well lets see,…" she replied handing him an arrow " …you might just have a hidden talent Merlin"


End file.
